Pour'n Pioneers star in new series tracking national 'Cast in Steel' competition
Sean McCarthy joined the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's metal casting club hoping to gain extra experience he could parlay into a manufacturing job. He got it, and then some.
McCarthy was part of the five-member Pour'n Pioneers club team that produced a replica of one of George Washington's swords that was so strong and historically accurate that it earned the club a second-place finish in the 2025 Cast in Steel competition, beating out dozens of other schools from around the country. The team's performance will be featured in a new You Tube series documenting the 2025 competition. The series debuts Thursday evening on the Cast in Steel channel, with the Pour'n Pioneers set to star in Episode 3 on July 23.
"(Pour'n Pioneers) gives you the resources to get yourself out there," said McCarthy, who graduated just weeks after the competition with a degree in applied engineering technology and a minor in metals processing technology. He's now putting his skills to use casting boat propellors for Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac. "It has a lot of pay off."
The club has dominated the Cast in Steel competition since it began in 2019. Launched by the Steel Founders Society of America and…
